


Breakout

by JustAndrea



Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Death, Various headcanons, lots of alien swearing, mild cartoony violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:59:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8566657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: It’s amazing how one thing can end up changing your entire life path. And sometimes the thing that changes everything isn’t a thing, but a person - even if that person just so happens to be in a jail cell next to you.





	

The light above her was bright - a lone, burning star in an otherwise dark, stone room. Rusty metal cuffs gripped her wrists tightly, making them itch. She could easily break them with just one second of effort, but the blaster that she saw hanging off her captor’s belt combined with the number of armed cops that she knew were just outside the door was enough to convince her not to.

Her guard - the chief of this planet’s police force, most likely, or at the very least one of their toughest looking officers - slowed her pacing, her arms crossed in front of her chest. The officer then lowered herself slightly so that she was under the light, her shaded eyes now glaring right at the Zbornak. “…Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” She asked, her tone steely and no-nonsensed.

“…Honestly?” Sylvia replied after taking a moment to lean back in her uncomfortable wooden chair, “You remind me a lot of my Ma.”

The officer slammed her hand on the table suddenly. Sylvia didn’t even flinch - she had only been arrested twice (not counting this time) since she had left home a little over a year ago, but she already had a pretty good idea of what to expect from an intimidation routine. Still, her comb did start to stand up slightly in defense, but she managed to keep her face neutral.

“Don’t be cute with me, missy,” the officer said with a sneer, standing up straight now, “I already know about your record from other planets. But even if you didn’t have a record, I’m not the kind of gal who lets misbehaving, uncaring punks get away scott-free just because they’re first timers. Not on my planet!” She then added with a mumble. “Not anymore…”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright?” Sylvia started to say, sitting up slightly, “I swear I was going to leave it on this planet. I just needed to get to the next city! But I promise, I’ll find a way to pay the fine and-”

“Oh no you don’t!” The officer said, cutting her off, “I’d say fines aren’t really suited for you, considering you still haven’t learned your lesson. So, how’s about a few hours in a holding cell, a couple days in jail, and three months of community service sound? Though if you have a problem with that, then no problem, I can make it longer!”

Sylvia groaned, her head slumping so low now that her snout nearly hit the table. She didn’t want to be stuck on this planet for three whole months! …But on the other hand, she didn’t have much cash on her anyway, so even if she had just been given a fine, she would’ve been stuck there for at least a few weeks anyway. Calling someone to bail her out certainly wasn’t an option, so she really didn’t have a choice.

Judging how she didn’t wait for any sort of reply, Sylvia guessed that the officer knew this too. “Come on,” she ordered, roughly pulling at her arm - not enough to hurt, but still enough to annoy. Still, Sylvia bit back a growl and followed her escort out the door. Once they were in the light, she could get a much clearer view of her: Pale yellow skin, a thick and fairly muscular body wrapped up in a light purple uniform that had certainly seen better days but was still in pretty good condition. A leather belt kept a blaster and a communication device on her hips at all times. Her light blue hair had been tied into a neat, low ponytail, and a silver visor was totally covering her eyes - though any intimidation factor it might have had was lost on Sylvia, who knew this species well enough to know that they had poor-as-flarp eyesight as well as extremely sensitive eyes, hence the special shades.

The officer gave her a slight shove, and Sylvia reluctantly allowed herself to be marched passed the various officers at their desks - all in either light purple or grey uniforms and their well-combed hair in varying shades of blue, black and green - and towards the cells in the back. Since it was just a station and not an actual prison, there were only three cells, with one already filled. They were small, but at least they were clean and had a cot.

Wordlessly, the officer unlocked her handcuffs, taking them before closing the cell door. The other prisoner - who had either been sleeping or daydreaming, Sylvia wasn’t really sure - suddenly looked up at them curiously, but the officer ignored him.

“I’m sure you’ll find that a few hours in here really helps you think twice about things,” she told Sylvia as she started to walk out in the room, “and if it doesn’t-” she looked back at the pair of criminals, narrowing her eyes a bit. “…then I’m sure there are plenty of other prisons out there in the galaxy.” With that, she slammed the door shut, leaving them in silence.

Sylvia huffed, leaning against the back wall, her tail flicking slightly in irritation. She already knew what she did was stupid, but she had done it to just try and survive on her own a bit longer. Can’t really learn a lesson if you already knew what you were doing was wrong. Still, at least the cot looked decent enough to take a nap on, and she probably would’ve done just that. …If she had been alone.

“So… Zbornak, right?” She glanced over at the cell on her right, and saw another pair of hidden eyes looking at her, a calm smirk on his face. He had the same yellow complexion as everyone else on the planet and a bit of stubble on his chin, along with a silver and red visor over his eyes and an almost ridiculously huge dark-blue mullet on his head.  

“Yeah… You gotta problem with that?”

“Nah, I ain’t one of those types,” he answered, “Besides, from what I’ve heard, ya’ll are some of the toughest guys in your galaxy.”

“Hmph.” Well, he was almost right. “We’re the toughest in ANY galaxy.”

The prisoner chuckled. “So whadaya in for, then? Street fighting?”

She shook her head. “Nah.” Though, thinking back to the car chase she had been in earlier, it was almost as exciting as that. “Hot wiring.”

He gave a loud laugh at her answer, though not out of any disrespect. “Man, no wonder the chief was so honked off at ya!”

“Why, she got somethin’ against thieves?”

There was a slight pause before he answered her. “Yeah, you could say that. Probably hates them even more than the counterfeitters we got on the west side of the city. As soon as she heard what you did, you instantly had pretty much no chance of makin’ it far off this planet. Hmph, I at least hope it was a nice ship, for all the trouble you went through tryin’ to get away with it.”

Despite herself, Sylvia smirked slightly. “I just needed a ship, I wasn’t caring too much about how it looked. …But, yeah, it was pretty nice. Only a couple years old, powerful engine, beauty of a paint job- it’s no wonder it was the first ship I saw.” She stopped, hesitating for just a moment. “But, I wasn’t planning on actually leaving the planet with it, you know.”

That made the prisoner sit up, a clear look of confusion now on his face. “Wait, what?! Well then why the flarp did you steal it in the first place?!”

“Because I needed a ride!” Sylvia snapped back at him before sighing. “…Zbornaks have tough feet, and we can run for practically light years, but even we have our limits. There was a space coaster that was about to leave over in the next city, and if I didn’t catch it then I would’ve been stuck in this system for another week.” And she would’ve lost out on one of the few job interviews she had managed to get in the last year, but decided to leave that part out. “I knew I didn’t have the energy to make it on foot. I needed wheels, and… And I just figured that sneaking off with a ship and then leaving it at the station so I wouldn’t have to worry about cops chasing me down past this place was the best solution.”

Silence filled their cells once more. The prisoner slouched against the wall of steel bars that divided them. “…Well, you ended up gettin’ stuck here anyway, so… That was pretty stupid of ya.”

Scowling, Sylvia reached through the bars and gave him a punch in the arm, just hard enough to make him yelp and no doubt leave a bruise. “I KNOW it was stupid, alright?!” She then groaned slightly, crossing her arms as she glanced down at the cold, tiled floor. “Just another screw-up for me, I guess…”

“Eh, don’t be too hard on yourself. Amateurs at this kind'a stuff always get caught,” he told her.

“Hmph, then I guess you’re an amateur too,” she retorted, looking back at him now, “That or just unlucky.”

“Luck’s got nothin’ to do with it,” he mumbled, a deep frown now on his face. He knew fully well that he couldn’t get away with any crime, no matter how well planned. Not anymore, and not here, at least. “…You know, you really are strong,” he said suddenly, changing the subject, “Heh, I can just imagine the damage you can do when you’re not holdin’ back.”

The Zbornak however just gave him a flat look. “Flattery’s not gettin’ you anywhere, pal.”

“I ain’t just tryin’ to flatter ya, I’m sayin’ the truth!” he insisted, his smirk quickly returning, “And I just figured you would appreciate that, Ms. Toughest-in-any-Galaxy!”

“Hmph…” Okay, maybe it was kinda nice to receive a compliment or two, but Sylvia had been traveling for long enough to know when to expect some sort of catch.

“Heck, with stone strength you got, you could probably take out a hundred thugs if ya needed to! Or-” He tilted his head down slightly, giving a sly smile as his visor slid down slightly, his pupils a sort of milky, faded gray color, nearly blind to the world yet still full of confidence- “Break out of a holding cell.”

Aaaand there it was. “And just what makes you think I’d be dumb enough to do that just to give you a chance to escape, hm?” Sylvia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because, you’d get a chance to escape with me,” the criminal told her, and before she could question him any further, he reached into his hair and pulled out an acorn-sized black box with a thin antenna sticking out of it. “Let’s just say I know how to deal with little annoyances like security systems - I just need the perfect opportunity.”

Judging by how prepared he was to deal with said security systems, Sylvia had a pretty good guess at what he was in there for. “So what, this is a ‘you help me I help you’ type of deal?”

“You know it!” The thief grinned, “I mean, it’s better than the deal you’re currently gettin’, isn’t it?”

“Maybe,” Sylvia said coolly, “But only for the short term. I mean, three months isn’t so bad.” Annoying as flarp, but not too bad. “And besides, what exactly am I supposed to do after you run off?” Who’s to say she wouldn’t just get caught again and get a bigger punishment out of it?

While the actual punishments didn’t seem too bad - heck, compared to some of the chores and odd jobs she had done back home, jail time with a few flarf-narblers and some community service was nothing! - she knew that she needed to clean up her act soon. Get a job, earn enough credits to keep her fed for more than half a week, find a place somewhere to crash or a ship, start living the life she actually wanted to live-!

The Zbornak paused. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed that the thief hadn’t replied yet. However, when she looked at him, he still had a small smile on his face - one that was a bit more thoughtful. And after another few seconds, he spoke once more.

“What if I DON’T run off?”

“…What do you mean?”

“I mean, that usually I work alone, buuuut that don’t mean that I wouldn’t be against the idea of a partnership. …And like I said, you seem pretty tough. Pretty cool, lotta spunk, and you seem like someone I could get along with pretty well.”

She continued to look at him, not really sure what to say. It didn’t really feel like he was lying - his words did seem pretty genuine, and it wasn’t as if she was totally against the idea of being 'partners-in-crime’ with someone. But… “I don’t know,” she said finally.

“…I’m not JUST a no-good thief, you know,” the thief continued. He was no longer smiling but he was still looking fairly confident in his offer. “I’ve been all over this system, plus a couple'a moons and planets from the next one over - and I don’t just stop at gas stations and banks.” He shook his head slightly. “Nah, I like to go big. There are some pretty big scores out there, after all. Ancient treasures, powerful ships and weapons, vaults full'a gold and jewels just sittin’ there, not to mention all the actual credits we could get!”

Despite herself, Sylvia’s eyes were wide as she listened - but blinked at the last bit. “Wait, 'we’?”

“Just to remind you that the deal’s still on the table,” he said simply, “Anyway, it’s not as if all this stuff is just sittin’ in a crater somewhere. You gotta find it, figure out how to get to it, and either get past, trick, or beat up anything that’s in your way before you can get any sort'a reward - and depending on what the reward is, it could take even longer if you have to pawn it off on someone. But, hey-” His grin returned. “That’s what makes it really fun! …Even if the money’s still the best part.”

“Gotta disagree with you there, mullet head,” Sylvia mumbled, though that didn’t mean the rest of his speech had been lost on her…

As tired as she had been of life at home, of all the work and chores and remembering the secret fears she had of wasting her life on just lifting rocks (or worse, working herself to death like her Pop had), the thing that had finally pushed her to leave home wasn’t any of that. Or at least, they hadn’t been the main reason. No, the main push had been was craving for adventure and action and excitement and just something _new!_ …Something that had unfortunately been much harder to find than she had thought. Life outside Zbornock wasn’t exactly like the cool space-adventures and Insurgent Generals action-thrillers she had seen on tv as a kid.

“…Maybe it ain’t the easiest life to live, but it’s one of the best in my opinion,” the thief concluded quietly, “Better than some other lives I could think of, at least.”

“Yeah, no doubt,” Sylvia agreed with a slight nod, holding back a sigh. A minute passed, then two. They both knew that if Sylvia didn’t make a decision soon, the chief would make a decision for them. But as much as she had tried to appeal to her, there was still one thing Sylvia needed to ask: “…So what are you runnin’ for?”

“Hm?” The thief glanced over at her curiously.

“I mean, everyone’s got some sort'a reason for running,” she told him, moving her own head so she could look at him directly now, “I know I do, and I dunno, I can’t believe that you’re only running for the money. So spill, what made you wanna be a thief.”

“…Tc'ch, do you really want one of those sad, sappy, feel-sorry-for-me backstories?” He asked.

She gave him a smirk of her own. “No, but I still want some sort of answer from you, so you’d better get to giving it, pal. That is, if you still want my help.”

“Heh, I do. …And lucky for you, I don’t got a sob story for ya. I just got tired of the ideas everyone else was givin’ me, and I knew what I wanted out of my life, so I just decided to go for it, figuring I had enough street smarts to get me there. No matter how many arrests it got me.” It wasn’t like jails and handcuffs were too hard to break out of, even without Zbornaks to help.

Sylvia chuckled. She had sorta figured it was something like that, given the attitude this guy had. “Or how many thief-hating chiefs made you public enemy number one?”

The thief had started to reply, but faltered for just a moment before managing to give another short laugh. “Ha. There’s only one chief out there that’s put me on her most wanted list, and I’m pretty sure she’s had it out for me since the day I started talking. Maybe even before that.”

Sylvia’s smile immediately fell. “I- Wait, seriously?”

“Yyyyep.” The thief put his arms behind his head, leaning back on them. “Can’t really blame her. I mean, I’m sure I was a little nert-muncher as a kid, and to be fair there were one or two times when she bailed me out-” Though, he sorta knew it was more out of embarrassment than anything else. At least, that’s what it had always seemed like. “But hey, in the end, I can’t really blame her for takin’ care of herself and her job and all that grop. I know that I’d probably do the same. Gotta always keep a look out for number one.”

“But still…” Even with all the friction they sometimes had between them, Sylvia knew her mother would never go as far as to practically disown her, no matter how many mistakes she had made.

He looked back at her, not even flinching at the Zbornak’s still somewhat-shocked face. “The only downside is that she’s about as determined to catch me and keep me in jail as I am to get off this flarpin’ rock with a few thousand freshly printed credits to my name-” If there was only one thing they actually had in common, it was definitely their stubbornness- “Which is why I need to get out of this system and back out there as soon as possible. Gotta get back to business, after all.”

A slight noise made them both freeze. Their gazes shot over to the locked door and watched, but after a few seconds, nothing happened. The door remained shut, and they both let themselves relax slightly. They weren’t completely out of time. Not yet… The thief looked back at her, and she looked right at him, and thought about all he had told her. About all he was offering. “So…” He said finally, “With all that out of the way: Are you in or not?”

She clenched her fists slightly, but didn’t hesitate to give an answer. “You give me a fifty/fifty split on anything and everything we steal or I kick your sorry butt and just take all of it for myself, and I get to pick some of the places we go to. Deal?”

The thief didn’t even blink at the threat (not that she could tell, anyways). He just stuck his hand through the bars. “Deal.” With a nod, Sylvia gripped his hand and the two shook on it - and the second they let go, her new partner held the tiny box up once more, and pressed the button on the side of it, causing the antenna to start to twitch.

As he carefully placed the device on the floor, the lights in the small space started to flicker slightly. Looking unsurprised now (and just a bit cocky), the thief casually glanced up. Sylvia followed his gaze over to a high corner of the room where a security camera beeped and whirled for a few seconds before falling limp. “Okay, I did my part,” he told her, voice now hushed, “Now it’s your turn.”

“Right…” She walked forward and gripped the handles on her cell door. There was no question about whether or not she would be able to get it off, she just had to do it quietly. So, slowly yet firmly, she yanked. The metal bars groaned just a little before snapping. She paused, wanting to make sure no one had heard before grabbing two more bars on the door and doing the same. Once the space between the remaining bars was big enough, she squeezed through and got to work on her new partner’s door.

“Not bad,” she heard him comment, still sounding just a bit impressed despite knowing what she could do.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she retorted as she broke off another bar, “After all, we’re still technically in holding.”

“Yeah, but-” he reached into the short sleeve of one of his gloves and pulled out what looked like just a simple laser pointer. In other words, it looked small and harmless enough to either go undetected or to be considered harmless by underestimating officers. Either way, big mistake. “-We might as well be free already.”

As soon as the thief was freed from his cell, he stood below the center ceiling tile and fired his (thankfully pretty silent) laser, burning a line into the edges of the panel. Getting an idea of what he was doing, Sylvia got her hands ready. The thief smiled at this, but didn’t say a word. He just kept burning the tile until it finally fell into the Zbornak’s hands. “See? Piece of cake,” he told her before giving a small jump, just barely managing to catch the edge of the hole.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sylvia smiled as she waited for him to climb through. Once he was on the roof of the station, he offered his hand to her, but she refused. Zbornaks might’ve been known for their speed and strength, but you didn’t live on a rocky, mountainous planet your whole life without becoming a decent climber.

Poking her head out, she could see that it was late afternoon - though with how low the sun was, it might as well have been early evening? She sighed, letting the cool air flow past her mane. “Well, looks like we’ll have plenty of cover.”

“Oh, so you know that trick already, rookie?” The thief asked, playfully raising an eyebrow, “Heh, good. Thought I was gonna have to tell you the basics before we really started traveling. That would’ve been a pain.”

As soon as she climbed up, she gave him another punch in the arm - this one lighter, but it still made him stumble back a bit. “Hmph, I may be a rookie, but don’t forget who saved your sorry-”

A loud, deafening alarm made them both freeze. “What the-?! I THOUGHT YOU DISABLED THE SECURITY SYSTEM IN THERE!” Sylvia managed to yell over the noise.

“I THOUGHT I DID TOO!” The criminal scowled. “Rassa-frassin’-! That damn signal blocker I got must’ve shorted out or somethin’! Flossin’ cheap piece of-”

“You can complain about it later!” Sylvia shouted. Even with the alarm, she could faintly hear the noise from below them. Doors opening, the chief screaming orders, feet running. They only had seconds before they were inevitably found, but that didn’t mean they were trapped! “Come on!”

Without any warning, she wrapped her tail around the thief’s waist and pulled him onto her back. He blinked, both in surprise and confusion, but before he could even question it, Sylvia leapt off the roof and started to run. Good thing she had gotten a bit of a break - though she had a feeling that not even sore legs and feet could slow her down now, especially once she heard the sound of more sirens.

“You’re the local here!” She yelled over her shoulder as she turned a corner, “You know any shortcuts around this place?!”

“Uh, yeah, give me a sec!” Keeping one hand gripping her shirt collar, the thief used his other hand to point. “Okay, down this alley! Take it, then turn left! You hear me?!”

“Got it!” She increased her speed slightly before sharply turning into the alley, leaping over trash cans and old boxes as she refused to let her momentum slow down. Her partner on the other hand was looking over their shoulder, making sure they weren’t being followed - though he did look away for a second to snag a trash can lid. (When you didn’t have an actual weapon on you, anything and everything immediately became a weapon.)

Sylvia turned again, and ran down the thin, one-way road. “Anyone on our tail?”

“No one so far! Just keep-!” He heard Sylvia gasp, and faced forward. “Shoot!” A pair of police hover cars had just pulled in, parking right in front of their only exit.

Sylvia gritted her teeth. This was crazy. This was nuts! This was without a doubt the worst idea she ever had! …And there was no turning back now. So, she increased her speed, almost looking like she was going to ram right into the cars before jumping onto the hood of them. Of course by this time the cops were already out, screaming on their walkie talkies as they tried to aim their blasters. Unfortunately for them, the pair was quick enough to barely dodge each stun-blast that was shot at them.

“Just keep running!” the thief told her over the sound of lasers and more sirens coming towards them. Turning around again, he threw his trash can lid - and, while he didn’t succeed in hitting either cop, it was enough of a distraction to stop the lasers long enough for him and Sylvia to turn out onto another road.

The sidewalks were crowded now, but Sylvia did her best to either go around people or use as little strength as possible when she was forced to shove them out of the way. As for her partner, he ironically enough acted as her eyes. He kept an eye out and warned her whenever a police car would start to get too close, directed her on which alleys to take and which were total dead ends, and, of course, searched for anything they could use to fight back if they needed to.

It was effective… But the chase wasn’t going to last forever. Sooner or later they were going to get blocked in, and they’d either have to find another direction out of the city or fight - and all positive thinking and planning aside, they knew they were outnumbered. So, that just left one option.

“We gotta get out of here!” Sylvia told him, “And we can’t just grab a pair of wheels! We need something with light speed!”

“I know, I know!” The thief snapped, scowling as he continued to look around, but found only staring bystanders and useless hovercars. 'Come on!’ He thought to himself. There just had to be something! There was ALWAYS something! A ship that was just about to leave the atmosphere, an interdimensional door, a transporter, a-! They turned a corner, and that’s when he saw it:

The huge mechanical arm had just finished throwing the last of the block’s - and to an extent, the planet’s - overstuffed garbage bags for the week into the huge yellow, metal bin on the back of the ship. With its job done, the arm retracted and the once only-mildly noisy engines roared to life. Despite the garbage ship’s huge size and clunky exterior, it was a ship built to get trash off a planet’s surface so quickly that no one even had time to complain about the smell. And boy, did it do its job well.

The thief grinned. “Perfect!” Sylvia looked up, and smiled as well. All they had to do was get up there, and they would be home free! …Unfortunately, even the easiest getaways were never THAT easy….

They didn’t dare turn around, even when they heard the tires screech behind them. But, once they started hearing laser fire, Sylvia was forced to slow down slightly, if only to make sure she dodged each one. One false step and her legs would be useless, turned into jelly and causing the rest of her to crash into the pavement. The garbage ship’s engines were getting louder as it slowly started to rise and the doors on the back of it started to close… They were running out of time!

“Follow my lead!” The thief shouted before standing up on her back. Once he jumped off her, he ran not towards the rising ship, but for the streetlight post that stood just before it. He scrambled up it, still trying to keep an eye on the cops (now running towards them since they now stood a chance of actually catching up to the duo on foot) as he and Sylvia climbed. Honestly, had it not been for his boots, he would’ve slipped right off it. But, by some sort of miracle, he actually made it to the top just as the garbage ship was in reach. A smirk was on his face as he inched along the thin bar of metal, preparing to jump for it. It had been a close one, but the cops weren’t going to catch him again! Not this-!

He felt a flash of heat engulf his left foot, while the rest of his body almost immediately went cold. A small gasp of shock escaped his throat. The flarping stun-lasers… How could he have forgotten, even for a moment? He couldn’t even feel his foot anymore. Even his leg was starting to go numb now as the rest of his body began to go into panic-mode as it tried to compensate, but it was already too late. His balance was lost, and as waves of heat and wind (and the scent of garbage) from the engines tore through his tall hair, he started to fall. His body now too slow to do anything else, he closed his eyes.

…But, instead of feeling the familiar yet still pretty groppin’ painful sting of hard cement, he felt a strong limb wrap around his waist. “Got'cha!”

Sylvia hadn’t made it to the top of the streetlight, but she had been close enough. The post itself was thankfully strong enough to hold them both, only bending and groaning slightly under the Zbornak’s weight. So, going as quickly as she could, Sylvia tightened the grip she had on the long pole at the top of the post. Reaching over, she plucked the lightbulb out of its socket and hurled it down before gripping the pole with both hands once again. The glass distraction would only buy her a second or two, but that was all she needed.

Growling, she swung herself back, and then forced herself forward, using her tail (and the new weight at the end of it) to give her some much needed momentum. And, as soon as she let go of the streetlight, she loosened her tail’s grip. About half of her partner landed in the garbage-filled trunk while Sylvia just barely caught the edge of it. “Erg-!” A streak of red-hot laser whizzed past her head. The metal doors were nearly closed. “N-No-!”

“I got ya!” The thief grabbed her wrists, wincing as he did so. His body still felt a bit slower and weaker due to the hit but, hey, he owed her, right? So they both pulled as the ship rose higher and higher, with neither one of them stopping until she was sitting right on the edge of the ship’s bumper. And, without a moment to spare, they dove into the pile of stuffed black bags, empty bottles and smelly garbage just as the metal doors closed.

For a moment, there was total silence between them, save for the sounds of breaking through the atmosphere and their own heavy breathing. Finally, as they started to catch their breath and the pressure decreased slightly, feeling normal even as they went from traveling miles to light years, the bluenette spoke. “You know… This truck doesn’t smell nearly as bad as I thought it would. I mean, it’s still pretty darn bad but, I’ve actually smelled worse.”

Blinking in the near darkness of the container, Sylvia turned to look at his slightly-glowing visor. “…Pfft.” She put a hand over her mouth, but it did nothing to muffle her giggles. Smirking now, the man beside her started to chuckle. Within a few more seconds, they were both laughing. “I, I can’t believe we-! Y-You! We just outran a whole city’s worth of cops and you’re thinking about how smelly our getaway is?!” She fell back, holding her stomach as she continued to laugh.

“Well of course I’m gonna think about it!” He shouted at her in-between his own laughter, “It’s like this place is full of Flier-phant manure or somethin’! And of course we outran them! Heh, even with a rookie at my side, I knew we could do it!”

Sitting up, Sylvia gave him a playful glare before shoving him. “Hey, this 'rookie’s’ saved your butt twice today, so you’d better give her some respect, you flab drassin’ glorf!”

“Ha!” He returned the shove with a grin. “Believe me, after all that back there, I’ve got plenty of respect for her! But she’s still a flarf-narblin’ rookie!”

“Oh yeah?!” With a wag of her tail, Sylvia rushed forward and pushed the thief down, easily pinning him. He struggled and threw a few fists at her, trying to get her off, but it was no use. “Okay okay! You win, ya stinkin’ gropple-zop Zbornak!”

“And don’t you forget it!” She told him as she got off, their fit of laughter quickly starting up again. Eventually though, they did fall back into a comfortable silence. The smell really was horrendous, but at least the ship itself was peaceful and the trash soft enough to lay on. “Man… That was-” She had about a million and one words to describe it. Awesome. Terrifying. Fun. Stupid. Exhilarating. Dangerous. Exciting. Crazy. Reckless. Liberating. Basically everything good and bad in the universe, but she felt too free and too alive to really care.

“Heh, yep… And to think, that was just breakin’ out of a place. Just think about how it’ll be once we go on a real adventure, and pull off a real heist.”

“Heh… Yeah…” Though, if it was anything like what their afternoon had been, Sylvia was both anxious about it and hoping that it would happen as soon as possible.

“…Name’s Ryder, by the way.” The Zbornak blinked, then mentally slapped herself. She agreed to break a guy out of jail and be his partner in crime and she hadn’t even asked for his name? …Then again, it was sort of fitting with the rest of the craziness that day.

“Well, Ryder, I’m Sylvia,” she said, offering him a smile.

Ryder smiled back as he leaned back, giving a slight sigh as he stretched his left leg out the best he could. “Sylvia? …Well alright then, Sylvia ol’ girl…” He then added, his voice a bit quieter now, “Glad to have ya around.”

Her smile grew a bit, and once she found a spot that looked clean enough, she curled up on it. “…How’s the leg?”

“Alright. Still sorta numb,” he told her, giving it a small poke, “But still hurts less than a hit from an actual laser. Nothin’ a little sleep can’t cure.”

“If you say so,” she replied casually, trying to hide her relief. Though, as soon as he had mentioned the word sleep, all the adrenaline just seemed to leave her body and her feet and legs started to ache once again. Laying her head down, she lazily glanced up at him. “Remember what I said, mullet-head. I get to pick a few of the places we stop at.”

“Right, no problem,” he nodded, “Just make sure you choose places that’ve got some kind of loot on them.” And maybe some stiff-type, snobby aristocrats too, if they were lucky. Their faces whenever they saw him getting away with their cash were always pretty hilarious. Reaching up, Ryder adjusted his visor, turning off the bright night-vision it had automatically entered into so he could actually get some sleep, “Which reminds me, we can’t stay here too long. First chance we get, we ditch it and start covering our tracks.” Knowing his mother, he was probably already looking up where the ship’s next pick-up stop was.

“Got it…” Closing her eyes, Sylvia gave a sigh of her own.

Was this new life a crime a bad idea? Maybe. Could it end up being bad in the long run? Possibly. Was she particularly proud that she was going to be making a living off stealing and pawning? Not really. But, along with all those bad points, she could think of some pretty good points too… The ability to actually do things her way and not being forced to follow rules that didn’t always seem fair. Tons of thrills and adventures all across this galaxy and possibly others around it. A decent partner that seemed to have her back. A chance to feel like she was finally living and not just working or barely scraping by.

“…” A soft smile crossed her lips at that last thought. Really, that seemed like the best part of all.

Maybe it wasn’t the perfect life, and she wasn’t naive or selfish enough to think that what she and Ryder were doing was truly right (no matter how many other people were also in the wrong), but even so… She couldn’t deny that this was the start of a new life for her. A different option, a new path. And, right or wrong, she was going to make sure that she lived the flarf out of it.


End file.
